Smithfield is offering to extend their contracts once they've converted their gestational stalls into group houses, which are generally considered more humane.
The hog industry's standard practice for years has been to confine pregnant sows in the 2-foot-wide steel crates for the length of their four-month pregnancies. The idea behind the crates is to keep the sows from squashing their babies, fighting and stealing each others' food.
Pretty messed up.